- Joined
- Nov 9, 2003
- Messages
- 89
I've been experimenting with polishing the blades in my collection and finally have come up with a way to do it without feeling like I'm going to slice myself in the process.
I started out using various polishing compounds, Blue Magic, various tubes of polishes I had laying around, and using a paper towel or piece of cloth to do the polishing. I still felt like this was more dangerous than I wanted, so I began to look around for a better polishing material. I discussed this with my wife and we agreed that thick felt would be good. Just dab on some polishing compound and go for it. We made a point to look for thick felt on the next shopping trip.
Lo and behold, I'm walking through Wal Mart in the hardware department where table leg caps and such are located--when I spy cards of thick tan felt with one adhesive side. It can be purchased in sheets or various diameters. I bought two packs: 3/4" diameter, and a whole uncut sheet.
When I got home I started looking around for something 3/4" in diameter. As I was uncorking a bottle of vino, there it was: the wine cork!
Out to the shop I went. Flattened out the cork a little with some sandpaper and attached the 3/4" stick on felt pad. Dabbed it in the Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish (WalMart), placed the edge of the knife in good contact with some cardboard, and began polishing. Ahhh, this is much better.
Clean off the blade with a little Simple Green, final polish against a piece of towel laid on the bench by sliding the knife across, trailing the edge. My! That does look nice.
I've since polished about every knife I have. On some I put masking tape around the point where the blade joins the handle to keep the compound out of the joint. If you decide to tape off a knife like this, be careful, as you're handling the knife very differently than usual.
I've found the Mother's polish mentioned above to give me the best results. On the front of the jar it says "Perfect for All Metals", but on the back it says "not recommended for gold plating, chrome, anodized, painted, or coated surfaces".
OK.
If you're out of wine corks, a 3/4" dowel can be sawed into 6" sections. I chose 3/4" but it's up to you. When I ran out of the round 3/4" felt pads I simply cut a 3/4" strip out of the sheet and then cut into 3/4" square pieces and use those. The knife doesn't care.
I've since obtained a couple of paint stirring sticks I plan to cut into smaller paddles. I'll then trim one to a point, trace onto the back of the sheet of felt, cut out and attach. I'll use this for polishing around thumbstuds, etc.
You'll find that the felt will detatch from the adhesive base after the polishing sticks lay around a while. Apparently something in the polish causes this. Simply peel off the old adhesive and attach a new one.
My knife blades are particularly bright and shiny, and some have approached the "liquid metal" look I like. A nicely polished blade enhances the beauty of the knife.
If anyone has a low tech way of knife polishing that's better or safer, please post.
Take care!
U
I started out using various polishing compounds, Blue Magic, various tubes of polishes I had laying around, and using a paper towel or piece of cloth to do the polishing. I still felt like this was more dangerous than I wanted, so I began to look around for a better polishing material. I discussed this with my wife and we agreed that thick felt would be good. Just dab on some polishing compound and go for it. We made a point to look for thick felt on the next shopping trip.
Lo and behold, I'm walking through Wal Mart in the hardware department where table leg caps and such are located--when I spy cards of thick tan felt with one adhesive side. It can be purchased in sheets or various diameters. I bought two packs: 3/4" diameter, and a whole uncut sheet.
When I got home I started looking around for something 3/4" in diameter. As I was uncorking a bottle of vino, there it was: the wine cork!
Out to the shop I went. Flattened out the cork a little with some sandpaper and attached the 3/4" stick on felt pad. Dabbed it in the Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish (WalMart), placed the edge of the knife in good contact with some cardboard, and began polishing. Ahhh, this is much better.
Clean off the blade with a little Simple Green, final polish against a piece of towel laid on the bench by sliding the knife across, trailing the edge. My! That does look nice.
I've since polished about every knife I have. On some I put masking tape around the point where the blade joins the handle to keep the compound out of the joint. If you decide to tape off a knife like this, be careful, as you're handling the knife very differently than usual.
I've found the Mother's polish mentioned above to give me the best results. On the front of the jar it says "Perfect for All Metals", but on the back it says "not recommended for gold plating, chrome, anodized, painted, or coated surfaces".
OK.
If you're out of wine corks, a 3/4" dowel can be sawed into 6" sections. I chose 3/4" but it's up to you. When I ran out of the round 3/4" felt pads I simply cut a 3/4" strip out of the sheet and then cut into 3/4" square pieces and use those. The knife doesn't care.
I've since obtained a couple of paint stirring sticks I plan to cut into smaller paddles. I'll then trim one to a point, trace onto the back of the sheet of felt, cut out and attach. I'll use this for polishing around thumbstuds, etc.
You'll find that the felt will detatch from the adhesive base after the polishing sticks lay around a while. Apparently something in the polish causes this. Simply peel off the old adhesive and attach a new one.
My knife blades are particularly bright and shiny, and some have approached the "liquid metal" look I like. A nicely polished blade enhances the beauty of the knife.
If anyone has a low tech way of knife polishing that's better or safer, please post.
Take care!
U
